GREENBURGH, N.Y. — As he ponders the idea of whether social activism in sports feeds into wider political discussion, or whether it's the other way around, New York Rangers center Brian Boyle starts stumbling over his words a little bit. The subject is the concurrent growth of You Can Play, the organization devoted to eradicating homophobia in sports, and the pending Supreme Court cases on same-sex marriage.

"Sorry, it's hard to get a good quote out of this," Boyle says. "I'm Catholic."

"You should be able to do what you want to do, to pursue what you want to pursue," says Rangers forward and You Can Play supporter Brian Boyle. (AP Photo)

Last March, Boyle was one of a dozen players to appear in the first PSA for You Can Play, along with the co-founder of the group, Philadelphia Flyers scout Patrick Burke, and his father, then-Toronto Maple Leafs general manager Brian Burke. On Thursday, You Can Play, the NHL, and the NHLPA announced a partnership that, according to the official release, "formalizes and advances their long-standing commitment to make the NHL the most inclusive sports league in the world."

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman and NHLPA executive director Donald Fehr both hope that support will continue to grow. Several league-wide initiatives are now in place, including commitments to educating players, media and fans, and seminars at the rookie symposium.

"I think it's very progressive," Boyle told Sporting News. "I think it's certainly something that is a positive thing. It's just awareness. Once you get rid of that mindset of prejudice and things like that with people that don't agree with certain things for whatever their reasons are, you start to get a culture of acceptance and hopefully years down the road it becomes a non-issue, something you don't even have to think twice about. Everybody is welcome to play, and whatever their differences are from you, if they love the game and want to play, they should be able to play."

That is the basic message of You Can Play — "if you can play, you can play." One of the reasons for the organization's success is that there is nothing else to it. It is only about making the sports world a place where only ability matters.

"That's one of the nice things about the way we're set up," Patrick Burke says. "Whatever your political affiliation, whatever your religious beliefs, whatever your racial background, whatever your economic background, we believe that you deserve to be treated with respect. All we ask in return is that you treat those around you with respect. It's pretty simple."

Maintaining that simplicity means that You Can Play has turned down requests to align itself with other organizations and causes. That may disappoint people who want You Can Play to use its clout more widely, but sticking to its stated purpose is part of the reason for the organization's success.

An athlete who affiliates himself or herself with You Can Play is not being asked to endorse same-sex marriage. But if athletes take up a cause, there is no doubt that it can help shape society's views. Monday marks the 66th anniversary of Jackie Robinson breaking baseball's color barrier, which came seven years before Brown v. Board of Education.

In this case, the political world may be ahead of the sports world; as the Supreme Court hears cases, there has yet to be an openly gay active athlete in the four major sports. But when that athlete does arrive, he should expect to receive a much warmer welcome than Robinson got from his colleagues.

"It shouldn't even be a question," Boyle says. "The fact that it is, that you have to do this, it means there's awareness of it. There's homophobic feelings that's still out there for people in the world, and in the sports world, and it's a shame, but that's the world. There's a lot of bad things going on in the world and that's just how it is. But you can bring awareness to it and this is a good thing, this is what's right. Eventually, people will be accustomed to it and it becomes a non-issue."

For now, it remains an issue, but as the NHL and NHLPA move forward with You Can Play, the opportunity for sports to influence society increases. The goal here, as it should be beyond athletics, is for people to accept each other for who they are, to understand that not everybody sees the world the same way, and to be able to separate those differing viewpoints to coexist.

"I have my beliefs and my faith, and I think that's completely separate than people's sexual orientation, and attractions are naturally, who they are inside," Boyle says. "I think one thing doesn't have to do with the other. That's the argument that I hear a lot. It's not up to me to decide for them. If they want to believe in something, and I'm talking — I'm Catholic, and there's certain views that the church has on these things. It's not up to me to agree or disagree with that. If you're in love with someone and you have a certain sexual orientation, it doesn't mean you're not a good Catholic, in my opinion. That goes right down the line to anything. It's completely separate from anything else. You should be able to do what you want to do, to pursue what you want to pursue, and you're not hurting anybody doing it. I think that goes for all areas of life."